The present invention relates generally to hand-held fishing spears and, more particularly, to a spear tip for hand-held fishing spears.
Sling-type hand-held fishing spears, for which the spear tip of the present invention is especially adapted, have been in use for many years. Examples of such prior art sling spears are shown in my U.S. Pat. No. 4,429,480 and my pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 885,288, which discloses a method of attaching a rubber sling through use of a fastener mounted in polyester resin. U.S. Pat. No. 4,429,480 and application Ser. No. 885,288 are hereby incorporated by reference for all that is contained therein. Spear tips for such hand-held spears are provided in a variety of different forms. One popular prior art spear tip includes a single pointed metal shaft which is adapted to pierce through the body of a fish. A small wing-shaped device is journaled to the spear tip near the forward end thereof and is constructed and arranged such that the wing is positioned in close-fitting parallel relationship with the spear tip shaft as the spear tip penetrates through a fish and such that the wing extends transversely outwardly from the shaft subsequent to striking the target to prevent the fish from sliding off the spear tip. However, a problem with such a spear tip is that, subsequent to being struck by the spear, a fish will continue to struggle, resulting in further damage to the fish and, occasionally, in loss of the fish from the spear tip. Another popular spear tip which overcomes many of these problems is generally referred to in the art as a "paralyzer" spear tip. A paralyzer spear tip has three elongate prongs projecting outwardly in an arrangement similar to the legs of a tripod. It has been found that a paralyzer spear tip traumatizes a speared fish in a manner which substantially prevents further struggling and damage to the fish. One drawback of prior art paralyzer spear tips has been that such tips are rather expensive to construct. Another drawback has been that such tips are rather heavy and require a relatively large profile adapter portion due to machining requirements.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a paralyzer-type spear tip which overcomes these problems of the prior art.